Concentrator



fimg. 29, 1957 s U 3,338,410

CONCENTRATOR Filed Aug. 27, 1965 United States Patent p 3,338,410 CONCENTRATOR Eugene F. South, 2521 Artesia Blvd., Redondo Beach, Calif. 90278 Filed Aug. 27, 1965, Ser. No. 483,237 20 Claims. (Cl. 209447) This invention relates to that class of device or mechanism which is employed to upgrade sands and the like which carry virgin metals, such as gold, or other valuable mineral concentrates, the specific gravity of which is greater than the.carrier sands and which are commonly referred to as concentrates.

Gold and other sought-after, high density concentrates are frequently found in sands, loose earth, clays and the like. In order to accumulate and/or collect such soughtafter gold and concentrates, the first step normally performed is to upgrade the sands by washing the sand in such manner as to remove the lighter, valueless material, commonly referred to as gangue.

The purpose of or function of a concentrator, such as herein provided, is to wash the gangue from sands and the like containing virgin gold or other valuable concentrates and to thereby upgrade the sands for subsequent treatment and eventual separation and collection of the gold or valuable concentrates.

The art of separating gold from sands by the use of rather flat, large diameter, saucer-like pans (referred to as panning), is extremely old and well-known in the art.

In the art of panning, the function of washing the gangue from the sand is carried out during the initial phase of the panning operation, when a volume of water and raw or virgin sand is engaged on or in the pan and the pan is manipulated so as to cause the water to scrub the sand and to spill from the pan, carrying with it, the gangue.

The use of concentrators has been restricted to largescale operations and has not been considered practical for use in connection with panning operations, which are usually carried on by individuals along a stream bed or the like. As a result of the above, concentrators are characteristically large, heavy mechanisms designed to handle large volumes of material.

In recent years, the art of panning for gold has been taken up by a great number of persons as a hobby and is practiced on weekends and during vacation periods. As a result of the limited and often sporatic engagements in this hobby or activity, and due to the lack of coordination and stamina, most gold panning hobbyists never develop suflicient skill in panning to make their hobby at all profitable.

The greatest difliculty confronting the unskilled panner is to effect the initial phase of separating the gangue from the sands. Usually, the novice or unskilled will spend extremely long periods of time washing the sands and water back and forth in the single effort'to remove the gangue and render the sands clean and in a condition where the water remains relatively clear.

An object of my invention is to provide a small, lightweight and compact manually operable concentrator which is particularly adapted for use by those persons engaged in panning for gold and which is such that a person having no special skill can rapidly and effectively scrub, clean and upgrade gold bearing sands for subsequent panning of the sands to effect separation of the gold.

It is to be understood that my new concentrator is not intended to effect final separation of gold from its carrier sands, but rather, is only intended to rapidly and effectively carry out 'the function of cleaning and upgrading the sands, which is normally carried out during the initial 3,338,410 Patented Aug. 29, 1967 phase of panning and which is normally a prolonged, fatiguing and time-consuming operation.

It is a feature of the present invention to provide a concentrator involving a simple, elongate tube with closures at its opposide ends and a longitudinal access opening through which water and sands can be advantageously moved.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a longitudinal catch basin along one edge of the access opening .to catch and retain the heavy concentrates.

Yet another feature is to provide discharge means to facilitate discharging the collected or heavy materials from the basin.

Other features of this invention are the provision of handles at the ends of the construction to facilitate manual engagement and manipulation of the construction and the provision of circumferentially spaced longitudinal rifiles in the tube to enhance the scrubbing and concentrating function of the construction.

It is another object of this invention to provide a concentrator of the character referred to which is easy and economical to manufacture and which involves no moving or wearing parts which might result in mechanical failure or time-consuming and costly maintenance problems.

The various objects and features of my invention will be fully understood from the following detailed description of a typical preferred form and application of my invention throughout which description reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of my new construction;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken as indicated by line 22 on FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 and showing the construction in another position;

FIG. 4 is a View similar to FIGS. 2 and 3 showing the construction in yet another position;

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of a portion of my new construction and showing it disposed to discharge material therefrom; and,

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken as indicated by line 6-6 on FIG. 4.

The concentrator A that I provide and which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, is a unitary assembly and includes generally, an elongate tubular body B, closures C closing the ends of the body, handles H at each end of the construction, discharge means D and coupling means E.

The body B is an elongatetubular member formed of sheet metal, or the like, and has cylindrical sides and open ends.

The body is normally horizontally disposed and has a uniform lower half or primary portion X, an upper half with a forward quadrant portion Y and a rear quadrant portion Z.

The lower primary portion X is provided with a plurality of axially spaced circumferentially extending, radially inwardly projecting, rib-like rifiies 10 and a plurality of circumferentially spaced, longitudinally extending, radially inwardly projecting rib-like rifiles 11. The rifiles 10 and 11 cooperate to establish a waffle pattern of riffies about the inside of the lower half or primary portion of the body.

In practice, the rifiies are established by a suitable forming operation, as clearly illustrated in the drawings.

It is to be understood that in practice, the rifiles 10 and/ or the ritfies 11 can be eliminated if desired without departing from the broader aspects of the invention.

The upper rear portion Z of the body B is plain or unobstructed.

The upper forward portion Y of the body is provided with a forwardly and upwardly disposed longitudinal slotlike access opening 0, the upper edge 15 of which is straight. The lower edge of the opening is defined by an inwardly and downwardly turned recurvent lip 16 which establishes a normally downwardly opening longitudinal catch basin F within the body.

The closures C at and closing the opposite ends of the body are simple, disc-shaped members or plates formed of any suitable material, such as wood or aluminum, and are arranged in axial alignment with the body. The axially inwardly disposed sides or surfaces of the closure plates are provided with grooves 20 corresponding in shape with the cross-section of the body and in which the end portions of the body are engaged and seated.

The closures are held in engagement with the body by the coupling means E, which means includes a single, central, longitudinally extending tie bolt 25, extending longitudinally through the body and through central openings 26 in the closure plates. One end of the bolt is provided with a head 27 and the other end is threaded and has a nut 28 engaged thereon. The head and nut of and related to the-bolt serve to engage the plates or related structure and effectively draw the closures axially inwardly and into tight clamped engagement with their related ends of the body.

The handles H are simple spool-type handles arranged centrally of and projecting axially outwardly from the closures C.

In practice, and in the case illustrated, the handles are provided with centrally axially extending fasteners receiving openings 30. The tie bolt 25 of the means E extends through the openings 30 and the head 27 and nut 28 engage and seat on the bottoms of suitably axially outwardly opening counterbores 31 provided in the handles.

With this relationship of parts, it will be apparent that a single bolt and nut assembly serve to maintain the entire construction in tight assembly.

The discharge means D that I provide is adapted to facilitate discharging material collected in the catch basin F and includes an axially extending discharge opening 40 in and through each closure C, in axial alignment and communicating with the catch basin and in which a suitable closure or plug 45 is engaged to normally close the opening.

In the simplest form of the invention and as illustrated in the drawings, the plugs 45 are simple tapered cylindrical members or plugs formed of wood, rubber, cork or the like and are releasably press-fitted into their related openings 40.

In operation, the supply of water and virgin goldbearing sand is introduced through the opening 0 and deposited in the body. The construction is then engaged by the handles H and is reciprocated axially and circumferentially in a rocking motion and as indicated by the arrows in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings. Such a motion serves to scrub the sands in the water. The motion is sufficiently violent to effect spilling of a portion of the water over the lip 16 and outward through the opening 0.

The above rocking and turning motion can be varied considerably to assure the obtaining of the desired action and effect. The most effective motion to be employed in any particular situation is easily determined and adopted by the operator by and through the exercise of his senses of touch and vision.

As the material is scrubbed, the construction is rotated slowly so that the opening 0 shifts downwardly and so that continued and controlled spilling of the water and the light materials carried thereby is effected (see FIG. 3 of the drawings).

When the light and fluid material, which is readily spilled, has been discharged, the heavy clean sands and the gold carried thereby are left in the bottom of the interior of the body.

The construction is then rotated to the position illus- 4 trated in FIG. 4 of the drawings, where the basin F is disposed upwardly.

When the construction is thus arranged, the heavy, clean and upgraded material is trapped by the basin.

Thus, the material is easily, quickly and efiectively upgraded with the exercise of no special, but rather, the most ordinary and simplest, sort of skill.

It will be apparent that during and throughout the upgrading of the sand, water can be added as desired or as circumstances require.

After the sand is concentrated or upgraded as set forth above, and is caught in the catch basin, the plug 45 in one or the other end of the construction is removed from its related opening and the construction is rotated axially to dispose the opening 40 downwardly and so that the material in the basin is free to pour and to discharge therefrom (see FIG. 5 of the drawings).

The discharged material can be collected in a pile for subsequent panning or can, if desired, be poured directly into a pan for immediate separation of the gold and sand.

In practice, the longitudinal and diametric extent of the construction can be varied to effectively hold any desired volume and/or weight of material, so that large concentrators as here provided can be provided for large and strong persons capable of handling and manipulating considerable weight and smaller concentrators, as here provided can be provided for those persons who are capable of or who desire to handle and manipulate lesser weights of material.

Having described only a typical preferred form and application of my invention, I do not wish to be limited to the specific details herein set forth, but wish to reserve to myself any variations and modifications that may appear to those skilled in the art and which fall within the scope of the following claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with an inwardly recurvent lip along one edge defining a longitu dinal internal catch basin, and means to move said concentrator about its axis.

2. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed.access opening with an inwardly recurvent lip along one edge defining an opening longitudinal internal catch basin, and manually engageable handles at the opposite ends of the body.

3. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with an inwardly recurvent lip along one edge defining a longitudinal internal catch basin, the body having a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending inwardly projecting riffles and means to move said concentrator about its axis.

4. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with an inwardly recurvent lip along one edge defining a longitudinal internal catch basin, the body having a plurality of longitudinally spaced circumferentially extending inwardly projecting riffies and means to move said concentrator about its axis.

5. A concentrator 0f the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with an inwardly recurvent lip along one edge defining a longitudinal internal catch basin, the lower side of the body having a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending rifles and a plurality of longitudinally spaced, circumferentially inwardly projecting rifles and means to move said concentrator about its axis.

6. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with a straight longitudinally upper edge and an inwardly recurvent lower edge defining a normally substantially downwardly opening longitudinal internal catch basin, and manually engageable handles at the opposite ends of the body, the body having a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending inwardly projecting rifles.

7. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with a straight longitudinal upper edge and an inwardly recurvent lower edge defining a normally substantially downwardly opening longitudinal internal catch basin, and manually engageable handles at the opposite ends of the body, the body having a plurality of longitudinally spaced circumferentially extending inwardly projecting rifles.

8. A concentrator of'the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with a straight longitudinal upper edge and an inwardly recurvent lower edge defining a normally substantially downwardly opening longitudinal internal catch basin, and manually engageable handles at the opposite ends of the body, the lower side of the body having a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending rifles and a plurality of longitudinally spaced, circumferentially inwardly projecting rifles.

9. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with an inwardly recurvent lip along one edge defining a longitudinal internal catch basin, the body having a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending inwardly projecting rifles, said rifles extending about the lower half of the body and means to move said concentrator about its axis.

10. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with a straight longitudinal upper edge and an inwardly recurvent lower edge defining a normally substantially downwardly opening longitudinal internal catch basin, the body having a plurality of longitudinally spaced circumferentially extending inwardly projecting rifles, said riffles extending about the lower half of the body and means to move said concentrator about its axis.

11. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with an inwardly recurvent tip along one edge defining a longitudinal internal catch basin, the lower side of the body having a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending rifles and a plurality of longitudinally spaced, circumferentially inwardly projecting rifles, said rifles extending about the lower half of the body and means to move said concentrator about its axis.

12. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with a straight longitudinal upper edge and an inwardly recurvent lower edge defining a normally substantially downwardly opening longitudinal internal catch basin, and manually engageable handles at the opposite ends of the body, the body having a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending inwardly projecting riffles, said rifles extending about the lower half of the body.

13. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with a straight longitudinal upper edge and an inwardly recurvent lower edge defining a normally substantially downwardly opening longitudinal internal catch basin, and manually engageable handles at the opposite ends of the body, the body having a plurality of longitudinally spaced circumferentially extending inwardly projecting rifles, said rifles extending about the lower half of the body.

14. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top .and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with an inwardly recurvent lip along one edge defining a longitudinal internal catch basin, and manually engageable handles at the opposite ends of the body, the lower side of the body having a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending rifles and a plurality of longitudinally spaced, circumferentially inwardly projecting rifles, said rifles extending about the lower half of the body.

15. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with straight longitudinal top and bottom edges and an inwardly recurvent lip on one edge defining a longitudinal internal catch basin, said cylindrical walls of the body being established of sheet material, the ends of the body being established of plate, and coupling means holding the end plates in clamped engagement on the ends of the side wall and including an elongate central tie bolt and nut assembly engaged through and extending between the end plates, and means to move said concentrator about its axis.

16. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with straight longitudinal top and bottom edges and an inwardly recurvent lip on the bottom edge defining a normally substantially downwardly opening longitudinal internal catch basin, and manually engageable handles at the oppositeends of the body, the lower side of the body having a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending rifles and a plurality of longitudinally spaced, circumferentially inwardly projecting rifles, said rifles extending about the lower half of the body, said cylindrical walls of the body being established of sheet material, the ends of the body being established of plate, and coupling means holding the end plates in clamped engagement on the ends of the side wall and including an elongate central tie bolt and nut assembly engaged through and extending between the end plates.

17. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical 'body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with straight longitudinal top and bottom edges and an inwardly recurvent lip on the bottom edge defining a normally substantially downwardly opening longitudinal internal catch basin, a discharge opening in at least one end and communicating with the catch basin, and means to move said concentrator about its axis.

18. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with straight, longitudinal top and bottom edges and means forming an internal longitudinal catch basin along one edge, and manually engageable handles at the opposite ends of the body, a discharge opening in at least one end and communicating with the catch basin, and means to move said concentrator about its axis.

19. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with straight longitudinal top and bottom edges and an inwardly recurvent lip along the bottom edge defining a normally substantially downwardly opening longitudinal internal catch basin, the body having a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending inwardly projecting rifiies, said rififles extending about the lower half of the body, a discharge opening in at least one end and communicating with the catch basin, and means to move said concentrator about its axis.

20. A concentrator of the character referred to including, an elongate, tubular cylindrical body with top and bottom sides, closed ends and an elongate normally laterally and upwardly disposed access opening with straight longitudinal top and bottom edges and an inwardly recurvent lip along the bottom edge defining a 8 normally substantially downwardly opening longitudina internal catch basin, and manually engageable handles at the opposite ends of the body, the lower side of the body having a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending riffies and a plurality of longitudinally spaced, circumferentially inwardly projecting riffles, said riffies extending about the lower half of the body, said cylindrical walls of the body being established of sheet material, the ends of the body being established of plate, and coupling means holding the end plates in clamped engagement on the ends of the side wall and including an elongate central tie bolt and nut assembly engaged through and extending between the end plates, and a discharge opening in at least one end and communicating with the catch basin.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 477,934 6/ 1892 Hicks 209-451 775,578 11/1904 Porter 2()9-451 X 834,722 10/1906 Groesbeck 209-451 X HARRY B. THORNTON, Primary Examiner.

T. R. MILES, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A CONCENTRATOR OF THE CHARACTER REFERRED TO INCLUDING, AN ELONGATE, TUBULAR CYLINDRICAL BODY WITH TOP AND BOTTOM SIDES, CLOSED ENDS AND AN ELONGATE NORMALLY LATERALLY AND UPWARDLY DISPOSED ACCESS OPENING WITH AN INWARDLY RECURVENT LIP ALONG ONE EDGE DEFINING A LONGITUDINAL INTERNAL CATCH BASIN, AND MEANS TO MOVE SAID CONCENTRATOR ABOUT ITS AXIS. 